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The Chicago Outfit
During World War I, "Big Jim" Colosimo ran a group of nightclubs and prostitution houses with a loosely organized group of Italian and Sicilian thugs. Up until the time of Prohibition, "Big Jim" had been the boss. His right-hand man was Johnny Torrio (right), from New York. Torrio joined up with Colosimo in 1910 and helped organize the gang along the lines of the Sicilian Mafia. Along with the development of prohibition, however, a problem developed in the Chicago Gang.
Torrio saw great potential in prohibition (which took effect on January 16, 1920) but "Big Jim" didn't share his foresight. Torrio took a trip to New York to talk to his old friend Francisco Uale (Frankie Yale, left) about the situation. Yale suggested that Torrio whack Big Jim. When Torrio said that he had no one in Chicago that he could trust to hit Big Jim, Yale reached out to a young gunman for the New York mob in Brooklyn named Alphonse Caponi. Since Caponi was getting popular with the local law enforcement, he agreed to go to Chicago with Torrio.
Five months after the onset of Prohibition, on May 11, 1920, Caponi and Yale shot down Big Jim in his own restaurant. Torrio took over as boss, Caponi became his right-hand man, and Yale went back home to New York. Caponi (right) changed his name to Al Capone, and he and Torrio began to revamp the Chicago Outfit, recruiting many more mobsters from the Chicago area as well as disciplining and organizing the gang.
Torrio and Capone made Alex Louis Greenberg their front man and, through him, bought the Malt-Maid Company. They changed the name to the Manhattan Brewing Company and it became the largest brewery in Chicago. Torrio and Capone also bought several other breweries and stills all over Chicago and its suburbs. They also bought several bars, which they converted to speakeasies. The Chicago Outfit was growing.
Capone brought his brothers and cousins, the Fischettis, from New York. The Chicago gang also recruited Vincenzo de Mora, who was a leader of the Circus Gang. He later became known as "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn.
By 1926, Torrio and Capone had plenty of competition in Chicago with the gang of Dion O'Banion, Hymie Weiss, and Bugs Moran. O'Banion had been killed in 1924, but Moran and Weiss had kept coming on strong. Capone told McGurn to use his connections to find some new shooters. McGurn brought two guys from his old Circus Gang, Tony Accardo and Tony "Tough Tony" Capezio. They were "made" by Capone with no ceremony. Capone simply told them that they were "made" and McGurn was now their capo. Several other mobsters joined at about the same time, including Murray Humphreys (called "Hump" or "Camel"), Paul DeLucia (later known as Paul "The Waiter" Ricca), Louis "Little New York" Campagna, and Frankie Rio. Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti, Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, Phil Andrea, and others were already a part of the organization. One thing that differentes the Chicago Outfit from the LCN in other cities is its acceptance of non-Italians into relatively high positions. They are not considered members of La Cosa Nostra, however, and are not allowed in LCN meetings.
Around this time, Weiss tried to kill Torrio, but only wounded him. Torrio decided to get out and told Capone that he was going back to New York. Capone was offered a deal in which he could have the Chicago Outfit if he sent Torrio 10% of his income every month. Seeing the vast potential in this deal, Capone graciously accepted Torrio's offer. With this, Capone (left) became boss of the Family. Tony Accardo became Capone's bodyguard.
One day the Weiss-Moran Gang came into the middle of Capone's turf and shot up the Hawthorne Inn, where Capone had one of his private offices, while Capone was inside. Accardo and Capezio were assigned the inevitable hit on Weiss. The hit was done with the weapon that was the trademark of the Capone Mob, the Thompson submachine gun -- also called the Chicago Chopper or the Chicago Tie-breaker(right). The hit was done in front of Holy Name Cathedral, where Weiss had been an altar boy, Accardo had been baptized, and both Accardo and Capezio had gone to school. Now Bugs Moran became enemy #1.
It was around this time that Accardo (left) was given the name "Joe Batters". He was given the name by Capone himself after Accardo beat to death one of Capone's enemies with a baseball bat.
Accardo and Capezio's crew was also given the contract on Moran. It was discovered that Moran had a headquarters in a garage called SMC Cartage Company on the North Side of Chicago that was also used as a warehouse for Moran's liquor. Murray Humphreys found out that Moran bought his liquor from the Genna brothers on the West Side. "Hump" knew Angelo Genna. Hump had Angelo call Moran and set up a delivery on February 14, 1929 at 10:30 in the morning.
To ensure that the entire Moran Gang would be there, Genna said that it would be an extra large load, requiring a lot of help and a large payment from Moran.
Hump then borrowed a police department paddywagon from the captain of the police auto pound, and two uniforms from an officer on Capone's payroll. McGurn and Campagna dressed in the uniforms. Accardo and Capezio wore overcoats.
They arrived at the garage at 10:30AM on February 14,1929. The fake cops rushed into the building and announced a raid. Thinking this was a routine ID and weapons check and it would all be straightened out later with the cops on the Moran Gang's payroll, the seven men in the garage faced the wall. Accardo and Capezio pulled out Thompson submachine guns from under their overcoats and began firing hundreds of .45 caliber bullets. It is said that the pool of blood formed was 40 feet wide (right). Accardo and Capezio then put thier guns back under their coats, put their hands in the air, and were marched out by the uniformed hit men as if they were under arrest. They were placed in the rear of the paddy wagon, which drove away with no interference. Killed at the garage were six of Moran's men and an optometrist, who liked to hang out with gangsters, that had stopped by for a visit.
Moran had overslept that day and rushed to the garage. As he turned the corner, he saw the police paddy wagon and decided to wait for the raid to end. When he heard the gunshots, Bugs drove away. Questioned later about the killings, Moran said, "Nobody but Capone kills like that!" Capone, to facilitate an alibi, was very visible at his home in Palm Island, Florida.
The St.Valentine's Day Massacre was a two-edged sword for Capone. Although it kept other potential rivals at bay, it also tested his influence with the government. The government decided that enough was enough, and they wanted Capone put away on anything they could get on him. Under Capone, the Chicago Outfit became perhaps the most disciplined and wealthy organized crime group in the country. In 1931, Sal Maranzano formed La Cosa Nostra and formally designated Capone as the boss of the Chicago Family, not that it changed anything.
Al Capone was sent to prison in 1931 for tax evasion, where he was sentenced to 11 years, but was released in 1939 because he was in the last stages of syphilis. Capone died in 1947.
Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti (left) took over after Capone, and Accardo was promoted to capo. When Nitti took over, the Outfit went low profile as it had been before Capone. The Outfit went into labor racketeering under Guzik and Hump. Nitti and others (including Ricca) were indicted in New York in 1943 for extortion of Hollywood movie studios. Nitti eventually lost favor with a number of his men due to this and committed suicide on March 19, 1943.
Paul "The Waiter" Ricca (right) took over as boss but went to prison the same year, naming Accardo as acting boss. Ricca and his accomplices were sentenced to 10 years in prison. In one of the major scandals of the Truman administration, they were released immediately when eligible for parole -- 3 years later -- even though there was another indictment against them. The presence of another indictment supposedly meant that they could not be paroled. It seems that Hump had promised Tom Clark, who was Attorney General, that he would be rewarded by an appointment to the Supreme Court. Shortly after Ricca's release, a new member was appointed to the Supreme Court by Harry Truman -- Tom Clark. When Ricca came out of prison in 1947, he decided that he didn't want to be boss and appointed Accardo as official boss. Ricca became his consigliere. Accardo was easily accepted as boss by the rest of the Outfit.
Tony Accardo was acting boss from 1943-1947 and official boss from 1947-1957. During this time, the Outfit moved into black neighborhoods as well as Las Vegas and Reno. Accardo also joined the New York Families in gambling ventures in Havana, Cuba under Batista, who had been bribed to allow casino gambling.
In 1957 Accardo stepped down as boss and suggested that Sam "Mooney" Giancana (left) be his replacement. Giancana accepted on the condition that Accardo remain on as his consigliere. After some hesitation, Accardo agreed. Giancana chose Frank "Strongy" Ferraro as his underboss, following a suggestion by Ricca and Accardo. Also in 1957 (due to the fiasco at Appalachin), the FBI (under Hoover) recognized the existence of the mafia and set up organized crime squads.
Giancana kept a high profile like Capone. Some years later, Giancana served almost a year in prison when he was found in contempt for refusing to answer questions. Upon his release in 1966, Accardo (still the man with the power despite his official title) met with him. It was decided that Giancana would no longer be boss. He went to Mexico for eight years before being thrown out. A year after leaving Mexico, in 1975, he was killed in Chicago by his own people.
In 1966, Sam "Teets" Battaglia (right) was appointed as boss for about a year before going to prison. he died shortly after his release. Next to serve as boss was Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderision (left). He also served about a year before going to prison, where he died of a heart attack. Next, Accardo appointed Jackie Cerone, who (naturally) went to prison about a year later, when Lou Bombacino testified against him. Bombacino was later blown up in his Cadillac in Arizona.
In 1971 Accardo was re-elected as boss, but he was part of a three man ruling board which consisted of himself, Joey "O'Brien" Aiuppa, and Gus Alex(the first non-Italian to hold such a position). This was mostly a means of getting Aiuppa ready for the responsibility of boss. In the mid-1970s, Jackie Cerone (left) was released from prison. At this time Accardo retired again, Alex stepped down and resumed his former position, and Cerone and Aiuppa shared the title of boss. Accardo was once again consigliere, but retained a considerable amount of power.
Accardo instructed his two bosses to concentrate on Las Vegas and brought up a new capo, Joey "The Clown" Lombardo, to oversee Chicago's business in Vegas. Tony "The Ant" Spilotro had been sent there in 1971 by Accardo, and Lombardo was to be his new capo.
In 1978, Joey "The Clown" Lombardo (a capo) and some Teamsters officials were convicted for extortion of the Teamster Pension Fund.
In 1986, with the "Strawman" cases, Aiuppa (right) and Cerone were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for the skimming of Las Vegas hotel-casinos (probably for the rest of their lives). Also indicted in the "Strawman" cases were: Kansas City boss Nick Civella, Kansas City underboss Carl "Tuffy" DeLuna, Milwaukee boss Frank Peter Balistrieri, and Tony "The Ant" Spilotro. So in 1986, Accardo called a sit-down to appoint Joe "Joe Negall" Ferriola as boss and Rocky Infelice as underboss. Accardo died in 1992 at the age of 82. He never spent a night in jail, and his one conviction (tax evasion in 1960) was overturned after some calls were made to some appeals court judges.
Ferriola (right) became quite sick with cancer, so Accardo handed the reins of leadership over to Sam "Wings" Carlisi(left) and John "No Nose" DiFronzo. Ferriola died in 1991. In 1993, both Carlisi and DiFronzo were indicted for conspiracy to skim an Indian Reservation Casino in southern California. DiFronzo went away to prison, but Carlisi was acquitted. In late 1993, however, Carlisi was convicted of running a gambling operation in Chicago and is in Federal Prison. DiFronzo was paroled in August 1994 and took over the Outfit again. Lombardo is now out of prison, and as of 1999, off parole restrictions. It is thought that Lombardo (released in 1992, below) is the current leader of the Chicago Outfit.
